Acacia Center for Justice

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
874099467
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, United States
Phone
2136609093
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Ethnic, Immigrant Centers

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$353,995,304
Expenses
$326,816,853
Assets
$114,465,138
Liabilities
$76,899,323

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

25 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • OLISA SHAINA ABER-HANSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • OLISA SHAINA ABER-HANSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $256,108 total reported compensation
  • ANNE MARIE MULCAHY (CHIEF PROGRAM OFFICER): $237,587 total reported compensation
  • JESSICA LEE (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $236,186 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Acacia Center for Justice builds, strengthens, and expands immigrant legal defense programs for adults and children across the country. Despite nearly two decades of bipartisan support, **the Trump administration terminated programs providing basic due process protections for people navigating their immigration cases** on April 16, 2025: the Legal Orientation Program, the Legal Orientation Program for Custodians, Immigration Court Helpdesk, Family Group Legal Orientation Program, and Counsel for Children Initiative. To justify terminating the contract, the Department of Justice claims they intend to federalize the program, which will mean the same administration trying to deport millions of people will also be responsible for ensuring that those people understand their basic legal rights and obligations and are treated with.

What it reported doing in 2024

The legal access & orientation programs (lao) deliver legal orientations and self-help workshops about immigration court procedures to adults, adult caregivers of children, and families in dhs custody and in removal proceedings to help them better understand what to expect in court. These programs are comprised of:- legal orientation program, delivering legal orientations and self-help workshops about immigration court procedures to adult individuals in dhs custody to help them prepare to represent themselves in immigration court;- legal orientation program for custodians of unaccompanied children, providing legal orientation presentations to adult caregivers (custodians/sponsors) of non-detained unaccompanied children in eoir removal proceedings;- immigration court helpdesk, delivering legal orientations and self-help workshops to non-detained individuals in removal proceedings to help them better understand what to expect in immigration court and prepare to represent themselves; and- family group legal orientation program, providing legal orientation presentations and self-help workshops to family groups in removal proceedings to help them better understand what to expect in court and prepare to represent themselves.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 98% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 90.3%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 97.8%; rating input score 98
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.65 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 7.7%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.35; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.67; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0.8%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 110.7% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 107.2% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 79.8% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 90.3% of revenue deployed · 97.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $319.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $256K · 25 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $163.7M reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 28 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 17 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.